Extract from a letter of M. de Gouy, Colonel of the First Hussars, to M. Baucher:
"So far from the muscular power being lessened by the repetition of the flexions, is it not increased by having all the advantage of exercise over repose, of work over indolence? Does not the muscular system, in reason, develop itself, physiologically speaking, in proportion to these conditions? Will not address and vigor be the result of these gymnastics? Has the habitual difference between the forces of the right and left arm any other cause than the difference in the daily use of the one to the prejudice of the other?"
Baucher says: "To prove the complete success of my mission to Saumur, I will back, according to my custom, my assertions by positive facts. The officers present at my course of instruction were of the number of seventy-two; of this number sixty-nine have sent in reports favorable to my method. There were but _three dissenting voices_."
This statement is followed by letters from General Prévost, De Novital, etc., all highly commending the system.
Baucher's method has been reprinted in Belgium and translated into Dutch and German. In the latter language, several different translations have been written, one by M. Ritgen, Lieutenant of the Fourth Regiment of _Houlans_ (Prussian), and the other by M. de Willisen, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventh Cuirassiers (Prussian).
The translator will give some extracts from the preface to M. de Willisen's translation, as it shows that some of the difficulties met with by the former were not altogether escaped by his German _confrère_.
"After the most positive results had proved to me most convincingly that, of all existing methods, that of M. Baucher was the best, I thought that it would be useful to translate it. This translation seemed at first much easier than it proved in the sequel; above all, it was actually impossible for me to render in German, as I wished, such technical French expressions as _attaques_, _acculement_, _assouplissement_, _ramener_, _rassembler_, etc., retaining their clearness and conciseness. In German I could only find expressions that were incomplete. On this account I have put all the words for which I could not find a clear equivalent in German in the original French.